Debt swaps for financing education: Exploration of new funding resources

As an innovative financial mechanism to explore additional funds for social development programs in developing countries, debt swaps for development, including debt-for-education swaps, became popular between the 1980s and 2000s. Their popularity, however, seems to have diminished since the beginning of the 2010s. This article describes debt swaps for development with a focus on debt-for-education swaps, explaining how they became popular, examining why they have lost momentum, and exploring whether debt-for-education swaps are a feasible option for funding social development programs. Despite recent economic recovery and growth worldwide, one of the key obstacles for achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 4-to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all-remains inefficient funding for education programs in developing countries. Based on the findings, this article argues for the feasibility of debt-for-education swaps to seek funding with a number of conditions.